PRIVACY POLICY
Last Update: April 27th, 2021
The mobile-enabled website located at www.picketnow.com (the “ Site”) is brought to you by Picket Now, LLC (“ Picket,” “we,” “us” or “our”). This privacy policy (the “ Privacy Policy”) provides information about our policies and procedures regarding the collection, use and disclosure of information received through the Site (the “ Privacy Policy”).
This Privacy Policy is incorporated into, and is part of, our Terms and Conditions which govern your access to and use of the Site and Services.
There are a few definitions from our Terms and Conditions that we will use frequently in this Privacy Policy and so we have defined them again for you below for easy reference. Capitalized terms used but not defined in the Privacy Policy have their respective meanings in the Terms and Conditions.
· “Agent” means a professional real estate agent who uses the Site to locate an Inspector for a Homebuyer client seeking a home inspection.
· “Homebuyer” means anyone who visits the Site to identify and hire an Inspector.
· “Inspection” means a home inspection performed by an Inspector referred to a Homebuyer through the Site,
· “Inspector” means a commercial provider of home inspection services who registers with the Site to provide Inspections to Homebuyers.
· “Services” means the functionality, applications and services available on or through the Site.
· “Users,” “you” or “ your” refer to the people and/or entities visiting the Site or registered to use the Services as Homebuyers, Inspectors and Agents.
PLEASE READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY. BY ACCESSING THE SITE OR SUBMITTING INFORMATION THROUGH THE SITE, YOU AGREE TO THE COLLECTION, TRANSFER, STORAGE, DISCLOSURE AND USE OF YOUR INFORMATION AS DESCRIBED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY, PLEASE DO NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SITE OR SERVICES.
1. Your Information
Picket respects the privacy and other rights of its Users. This Privacy Policy outlines the ways in which we may collect and use information about Users.
A. Collection of Personal Information and other User Information
We may collect User Information (including Personal Information) when you choose to use certain features of the Site and Services, including when you: (i) create a Picket Account; (ii) use the Services to connect with other Users, (iii) communicate with Picket, (iv) upload information, media, contents, comments, videos or photographs, or (v) consent to receive commercial or promotional email and/or direct mail from Picket. We also collect Personal Information for maintaining records and contact details for our business purposes.
· “Personal Information” means all personally-identifiable information (e.g., your name, physical address, e-mail address, telephone numbers) that you voluntarily submit to Picket and/or the Site when using our Services or sending inquiries to Picket.
· “User Information” is further defined in our Terms and Conditions and may include without limitation:
o Personal Information about a User;
o Information a User provides when requesting a home inspection through the Site;
o Information provided by a User in response to a survey or promotional registration, when filling out web-based forms or subscribing to a newsletter, and in connection with other activities, features and functionality through the Site;
o A User's Account Credentials and Inspection history, including information about the home inspected, any records and contractual documentation related to the inspection, (the “ Inspection Materials”);
o Data from the Site's messaging functionality and e-mail, chat and other customer support communications;
o Anonymous Information (as explained in more detail below) that we receive about Users; and
o Any other information a User chooses to share with Picket when communicating with us.
B. Online Registration for Picket Account
Users must register for an online account (a “Picket Account”) when using our Site to connect and facilitate an Inspection. Once you have completed the registration process with Picket, you will be able to access the Site using your e-mail address and a unique password. Your password is exclusively for your use and should not be shared except as needed to facilitate use of the Site by you and those individuals authorized to use the Site on your behalf. It is the responsibility of each User to safeguard her, his, its or their password. If you believe your password has been lost, stolen or otherwise compromised, or that the security of your Picket Account has been compromised in any way, please contact Picket immediately.
We will ask all Users to provide the following information (your “ Account Credentials”) in connection with creating a Picket Account:
· Name;
· E-mail address;
· Physical address;
· Phone number; and
· You will also be asked to create a username and password.
We will ask Inspectors and Agents to provide some or all of the following materials in connection with creating a Picket Account:
· Company name and business address;
· Electronic photograph for the Picket Account profile picture;
· Insurance binder;
· Government-issued identification document;
· Government-issued home inspection license; and
· Certifications or other documentation concerning specialty inspection capabilities, e.g., mold, radon, termites, sewers).
Users may visit the Site without registering for a Picket Account but Picket may collect Personal Information provided by the User and Anonymous Information in its discretion. You must update your Personal Information if it changes and you consent to be contacted by Picket from time to time to verify your Personal Information.
All fees and costs related to a User's personal hardware, Internet access and software, including all upgrades and updates, shall be a User's sole responsibility.
C. Information Gathered Automatically
We may collect additional information about your interactions with the Site and Services (including metadata) that does not identify you as an individual (“ Anonymous Information”) by using cookies, web beacons or other automated technologies (as explained in more detail in below). For example, we may receive certain standard information that your browser sends to many or all websites you visit, including but not limited to:
· Time and date of your visit and the pages you visit;
· Your internet service provider, IP address and technical information about the IP address;
· Browser and operating system type;
· Information about the network and device you are using (such as whether it is a mobile device or a desktop computer); and
· Your geographic location.
Picket may use Anonymous Information for any purpose in its discretion. For clarity, Anonymous Information means information that is not associated with or linked to your Personal Information and does not permit the identification of individual persons.
D. User Generated Content
The Site permits Users to submit certain information and content to the Site (“User Generated Content”), including Inspection Materials, and reviews and ratings related to Inspections and/or interactions with other Users through the Site. Picket assumes no responsibility for securing User Generated Content you submit via the Services. Picket has no obligation to use, solicit or enable others to use any User Generated Content you submit to us. Picket may use data extraction and other tools to collect data from User Generated Content, including Inspection Materials, and this data may be shared with third parties in Picket's discretion.
E. Messaging
Users may communicate with other users using a messaging services facilitated through the Site, and Picket may send you notifications via text message with your prior consent. When you send a message (which may include text and photos) to other Users of the Services, or if Picket sends you notifications via text messages, we may retain the messages (“ Messages”) for as long as needed to provide the Services and to comply with our legal obligations, to resolve disputes and to enforce our agreements.
F. Communications with Picket
We collect Personal Information from you when you communicate with us, for example when you request information about the Site or Services, contact our support team, apply for a job, or register for a newsletter, survey, promotion or other activity through the Site.
G. Retention
Picket may retain any Personal Information that you submit in connection with your Picket Account unless Picket deems such Personal Information to violate this Privacy Policy or until such time as you decide to remove or request deletion of such Personal Information. You understand that deleted Personal Information may persist for a reasonable period of time on Picket's backup servers. By providing your User Information to us through the Site, you accept that we may retain this information as explained herein.
2. How We Use Your Information
A. General Use . We may use User Information (including Personal Information) for the following purposes:
· To operate the Site and to deliver, monitor and improve the Services;
· In connection with our relationships with Business Partners (as described in more detail below);
· To maintain the safety and security of Picket, the Site and Services, and data submitted to Picket;
· To ensure data accuracy and integrity, and to safeguard the rights of Users and Picket;
· To personalize a User's experience at the Site and to allow us to deliver relevant content and product offerings;
· To improve internal operations of Picket, including for troubleshooting, research and enhancement of Services;
· To respond to your requests and inquiries and to provide you with requested customer support;
· To review Site usage in order to customize, measure and improve the Services and the content, layout and functionality of the Site;
· To communicate with you about any problems with the Site or Services, or to inform you about important changes to the Site, Services and/or our business;
· To administer a promotion or survey or to identify and offer you new products and services;
· To tailor the Site to your needs and the needs of other Users; and
· For other purposes to the extent authorized and/or required by law.
B. Direct Marketing . We may send out targeted advertising via social media and/or distribute marketing messages to Users who have provided us with contact information to communicate about developments with our business, to offer special promotions, or to announce important happenings in our industry. We will ask for your consent to receive marketing communications when we collect your contact information, and you can always choose to stop receiving newsletters or other communications from us by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of a marketing message. Please understand that if you choose not to receive promotional correspondence from us, we may still contact you in connection with your relationship, activities, transactions and/or communications with us.
3. How Users' Information Is Shared
A. Third Party Sharing . Picket may allow third parties to access your Personal Information when it has a legitimate business purposes for doing so. An example is sharing your Personal Information with Business Partners under contract with Picket who help with our business operations.
B. Aggregated Research . We may also share Anonymous Information about our Users with third parties in order to help market existing or new products and develop vendor and customer relationships.
C. Other Circumstances . As with any business, it is possible that in the future we could merge with or be acquired by another company. If this occurs, the successor company would have access to the information we collect, but would continue to be bound by this Privacy Policy unless and until it is amended. This means we may disclose your Personal Information if we are involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of any or all of our business and/or our assets to such third parties. We may also need to share your Personal Information if we have a good faith belief that disclosure is necessary to:
· Comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal process (such as a subpoena) or enforceable government request;
· Enforce our Terms and Conditions, including investigation of potential violations or to detect, prevent or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues with respect to the Site;
· Facilitate fraud prevention, risk assessment, investigation, product development and debugging purposes; and
· Protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of Picket, our Users or the public as required or permitted by law.
4. Cookies, Beacons and Other Automated Technologies
Picket and its Analytics Partners (as described below) may use cookies, beacons and the like through the Site to monitor and enhance Users' experience with the Services and for advertising and research purposes; to store your information; and to protect you, Picket and others.
A. Cookies . A “cookie” is a small computer file that is sent to your computer when you visit a website to make each visit more efficient. Cookies may store User preferences and User Information. You may change your browser options to opt out of receiving cookies by instructing your browser to stop accepting cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from websites you visit. Please note, however, that by blocking or deleting cookies used with the Site and Services, you may not be able to use all aspects of the Site and Services. You can learn more about cookies by visiting www.allaboutcookies.org, which includes useful information about cookies and how to block cookies on different types of browsers and mobile devices.
B. Web Beacons . A “web beacon” is a small piece of information or data stored on your computer or mobile device that is used to determine your preferences and to track your search terms and other behaviors or activities as you navigate around the Internet. If you object to this practice, you may erase or block certain web beacons. We recommend, however, that you allow web beacons to be stored on your computer or mobile device as they may be needed to properly use the Services.
C. “Do Not Track” Requests . The Site currently does not respond to “do not track” or similar signals from your browser.
5. Security and Hosting
We use commercially reasonable physical, electronic and operational procedures designed to safeguard and secure the information we collect on our Site. We also limit access to Personal Information we receive to our employees, contractors, service providers (such as Business Partners) and professional advisors who need access to that information in order to do their jobs or provide services to us. However, no data protection procedures are entirely secure. While we strive to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee that it will be 100% secure. As is the case with most websites you visit, the transmission of data to our Site is done entirely at your own risk.
The Site and Services are operated in the United States and we host all data received through the Site and Services in the United States.
6. Business Partners
We use and work with certain third party application and technology companies (“Business Partners”) for hosting, payment processing, marketing, technology development, business intelligence, analytics and other services for us and/or for our Users. These Business Partners may have access to or process your information for the purpose of providing those services. We have discussed certain of our Business Partners in more detail below.
A. Analytics Partners
Picket partners with analytics partners (“ Analytics Partners”) to collect Anonymous Information about how our Site is used. Our Analytics Partners may use cookies, beacons or other automated technologies to collect information about you. Anonymous Information collected by Analytics Partners and delivered to Picket may be used for any purposes in our discretion, including to develop market data and analysis.
In order to make sure you understand how our Analytics Partners handle User Information and interact with our Site, we have shared links to their terms below. You should visit these pages as Picket has no ability to control or monitor our Analytics Partners' data collection or data use practices.
· Google Analytics' terms are available here: http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html .
B. Payment Processor
Picket does not collect credit and debit card information directly through the Site or Services and kindly asks you not to share this information with us when submitting requests for additional information. Picket does partner with a third-party payment card processor (“ Payment Processor”) so that Users may process payments for Inspections through the Site.
Here are links to the policies of the current Payment Processor we make available to you through the Site:
Stripe
· Stripe's privacy policy: https://stripe.com/us/privacy
· Stripe's checkout terms of service agreement: https://stripe.com/us/checkout/legal
7. Links to Third Party Websites
The Site may contain links to other websites, including those of third parties such as Business Partners and other industry partners. While we seek to link only to websites that share our high standards and respect for privacy, we cannot be responsible for the privacy practices of other websites. By accessing other third party websites or applications through our Site, you are consenting to the terms and privacy policies of those websites. It is possible that other parties may collect Personal Information about your online activities over time and across different web sites when you use the Site.
8. Users Only of Legal Age of Majority
THE SITE AND SERVICES ARE DESIGNED AND INTENDED FOR USE BY THOSE WHO ARE AT LEAST EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER. We are not liable for any damages that may result from a User's misrepresentation of her, his or their age. No one under age 13 is authorized to submit any information to Picket, directly or through the Site or Services, whether or not it is Personal Information. Under no circumstances may anyone under age 13 visit or use our Site. Parents or legal guardians of children under 13 cannot agree to this Privacy Policy or the Agreement on a minor child's behalf. Please notify Picket immediately if you become aware that any child under age 13 has provided information to Picket.
9. Amendments to this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may be amended from time to time, with or without notice to Users. Picket recommends that you revisit this page frequently, so you are aware of any changes. As appropriate, Picket may provide you additional notice of any material amendment. Your continued use of the Site and Services will be deemed your agreement that your information may be used in accordance with the new policy. If you do not agree with the changes, then you should stop using the Site and notify us immediately that you do not want your information used in accordance with the changes.
10. Contact Picket
If you have questions or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy, the Site and Services, or anything else having to do with our business, please contact us at hello@picketnow.com.
Address:
Phone:
Email:
